THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
nationthailand

Cabinet to rule on whether KTB still a state enterprise

Cabinet to rule on whether KTB still a state enterprise

Finance Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith will ask the Cabinet to confirm whether Krungthai Bank (KTB) is still a state enterprise.

The government’s legal adviser, the Council of State, recently advised that KTB has lost its state enterprise status as per the Budget Procedures Act.

This raises the question of whether state agencies can still disburse money through KTB. Under current rules, state agencies can only engage in financial transactions with state-owned banks.

The finance minister said that KTB is still a state-run bank under the Bank of Thailand (BOT) Act since its major shareholder, the Financial Institutions Development Fund (FIDF), is part of the Bank of Thailand – a state agency. As such, state agencies and state enterprises can continue to engage in financial transactions with KTB. The bank can also continue to receive and disburse money as part of government stimulus measures, he added.

However, he said he would have to check whether Council of State's opinion affects the welfare of KTB employees.

The Comptroller-General is reportedly working on new rules for state authorities to continue doing financial transactions with KTB without breaching rules.

In a separate matter, the finance minister said he would ask the Cabinet to set up a committee to hasten and follow up on state agencies' budget disbursement to ensure that targets are met.

He will also ask the Cabinet to amend the state procurement law in order to promote the use of technology to speed up the procurement process.

The government has set the 2021 fiscal budget at Bt3.285 trillion – Bt648 billion for investment and the rest for fixed expenditure.

He added that the government is considering fresh stimulus measures as “New Year gifts” to the public.

He said the ministry will launch a new round of welfare aid for low-income Thais early next year, based on household income rather than personal income.

Meanwhile, Arkhom said he is waiting to see whether new US policies would impact Thailand following Joe Biden’s victory in the presidential election.

Biden is expected to raise corporate tax and wages, which might encourage some US companies to relocate production to overseas markets, including Thailand.

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